Opera Mini Comes To Android

I've already previewed Opera Mini 4.2 for you earlier this month, but there's still one major surprise in store...

As the title (always inconveniently) gives away, Opera Mini 4.2 will be the flexible company's first browser edition to make its way over to the Google Android operating system.
Becoming the first alternative to the OS's default webkit browser, 4.2 will come with full page rendering, tabs, RSS feeds, skins, support for mobile video services (including YouTube) and Opera Link which - given Android's lack of desktop syncing functionality - could prove rather useful. Oh and there's the small matter of native support for more than 90 languages including about 50 I haven't heard of (Tajik? Khmer? Marathi? Lingala? Kirghiz? Assamese? Gujarati? Help please dear readers...).

Anyhow with no issues of duplicating functionality Opera Mini 4.2 will turn up in Android Market and give the unnamed (no, it isn't Chrome mobile - yet) native browser a real run for its money - especially with that capacitive touchscreen.

Interestingly, Opera actually made a version of Mini for the iPhone but it was banned, naturally. Hey Apple, it's called competition and it's healthy... (something I say as a happy iPhone owner).

Note: That's just the SDK generic phone image, not an impending model to get excited about.